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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta backs rival Jose Mourinho to turn Tottenham around as ‘he’s won at every club he’s been at’

MIKEL ARTETA is backing Jose Mourinho to silence his Tottenham critics and turn Arsenal’s arch rivals into a team of winners.

Arteta goes into his first North London derby as a manager with Spurs one point and one place behind in the League table.

 Mikel Arteta backs rival Jose Mourinho to turn Tottenham around
Mikel Arteta backs rival Jose Mourinho to turn Tottenham aroundCredit: PA:Empics Sport

And he has no doubts about the threat Mourinho poses to his team's European ambitions despite the criticism he has received in recent weeks.

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He says: “I have huge respect  for Jose and what he’s trying to do there and we know we’ll have to do everything really well to get a win there on Sunday.

“Tottenham have had some ups and downs but you can clearly see what Jose wants to bring to the club.


“And he always makes sure that he wins and he's won in every single club that he's been at.

“Obviously the situation and the timing when he arrived is different than starting a new project right from the summer, but I'm sure he will be successful because he always finds the right way to do it.

“He has a very clear way of playing and how he manages games. Clean sheets are a big thing that he wants to do, but don’t forget his teams always score a lot of goals and they are really successful and he’s been able to win titles because of that.


“But I know people that have worked with him and he always finds a way to be successful and I’m sure he’ll do it again.”

Arteta acknowledged that Mourinho has also become a master of the dark arts and the king of the so-called ‘mind games’ since arriving in English football way back in 2004.

But he insists: “The success Jose has had has not been from the press conference, it's the way that his teams perform on the pitch and the amount of football games that he has been able to win.

“Obviously you need to know how to deal with the media but the main thing is what you do on the pitch.”


Arteta also called for the Premier League to hold a summer referendum with referees to discuss the increasing concern with the game about the application of VAR.

He said: “Referees are under so much pressure and criticism but I know they try their best with the decisions that they have to make.

“Some of them are very complicated and we don't know how they are judging the situation but I'm sure they have the right intentions.

“At the end of the season, I think that is something that has to go into debate. We need to agree on some principles that we're going to apply, so at least every decision has the same raised level of determination, basically.

“Things are getting more complicated because of the speed of the game and how quickly they have to react, and the pressure they have with the new VAR system as well.

“At the moment we complain that we don't have the fans and we realise how important they are.

“Maybe one day we won't have referees and we're going to say, 'Wow, they were crucial for this game to work'. So we have to support them.”

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